z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 06.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 444
444 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
company of the brethren,—with about five hundred brethren. And Suppiya the mendicant, too, was going along the high road between Rajagraha and Nalanda with his disciple, the youth Brahmadatta. V
Now, just then, Suppiya the mendicant was speaking in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, in dispraise of the Doctrine, in dispraise of the Order. But young Brahmadatta, his pupil, gave utterance, in many ways, to praise of the Buddha, to praise of the Doctrine, to praise of the Order.
Thus they two, teacher and pupil, holding opinions in direct contradiction one to the other, were following, step by step, after the Blessed One and the company of the brethren.
Now the Blessed One put up at the royal rest-house in the Ambalatthika pleasance to pass the night, and with him the company of the brethren. And so also did Suppiya the mendicant, and with him his young disciple Brahmadatta. And there, at the rest-house, these two carried on the same discussion as before.
And in the early dawn a number of the brethren, assembled, as they rose up, in the pavilion; and the subject of the talk that sprang up among them was the conversation between Suppiya and Bramhadatta.
Now the Blessed One, on realising what was the drift of their talk, went to the pavilion, and took his seat on the mat spread out for him. And when he had sat down he said: “What is the talk on which you are engaged sitting here, and what is the subject of the conversation between you ?” And they told him all. And he said:
“Brethren, if outsiders should speak against me or against the Doctrine, or against the Order, you should not on that account either bear malice, or suffer heartburning, or feel ill-will.
“If you, on that account, should be angry and hurt, that would stand in the way of your own selfconquest. If, when others speak against us, you feel angry at that, and displeased, would you then be able